Detroit Pistons '12-'13: Grizzlies, blocked [12-7]

[megarover]

The Suns are doing pretty well......... efficient night for Knight as usual even though his opponents torched his butt ....Again

[Leftos]

Knight is efficient most of the times, just not in assists, or defense. And that's becoming common for the backcourt. As I said, I'm looking forward to the next off-season and all the available PG FAs.

[Leftos]

December 4, 2012
Game 19 Mini-Recap: Monroe, Prince turn Detroit into Block City against Grizzlies
Final Score: (W) 81-104

Pistons were going up against one of the few teams they've encountered this year who has a winning record, and nobody expected the game to be so easy for them to win. Good defense (6 STL, 10 BLK) meant the Pistons kept the Grizzlies to low scoring (.379 FG%, .182 3P%), and added this one to their tally.

* Tayshaun Prince was the man of the night, with 21 points on really efficient shooting. .667 from the floor, 4 of 4 from the arc, along with 2 blocks and 4 assists.
* Greg Monroe followed with another double-double (should I really have to say that by now?), close to his averages. 16 and 12, along with a game-high 3 blocks, as well as 3 assists.
* Andre Drummond is the league leader in FG%, and continues to do well from the floor, using his athleticism, offensive rebounding and good shot selection to keep his points, and percentages, high. 18 points on 7 of 11 (.636), as well as 4 free throws. 8 boards and a steal to complete his stats.
* Brandon Knight was everywhere. 13 points on .462 from the floor, along with 5 rebounds, 2 blocks, 2 steals.
* Marreese Speights, one of the few player the Pistons couldn't handle. 17 points, 14 rebounds (4 offensive), 7 of 12 from the floor (.583) and a steal.
* Rudy Gay dunked on the Pistons more times than I could count, and it was especially bad when he did so on Drummond in 2 occasions. 22 points on .435 shooting, 3 steals, 2 blocks, 8 boards. 10th best SF in the league right now.

In other news, All-Star Voting has started December 1, and after those 3 games, Stuckey is in the run for a guard position, while both Monroe and Drummond are in the run for Center. Monroe is actually 2nd behind Dwight Howard, and everyone's saying that if he avoids an injury, he'll finally get the well-deserved place in the East All-Stars.

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December 4, 2012
Water Cooler Update: Bucks now $4M below the cap after trading away Ilyasova, Gooden

* Bucks and Rockets have agreed to a trade which will relieve the Bucks of more than $55M over 5 years, and gives Rockets two good players at PF. Donatas Motiejunas, who finally came to the Rockets this year, has failed to impress, and finds himself disappointed because of his current role. This trade now puts the Rockets on a 5 PF roster, so more moves are bound to happen to relieve the logjam in the position. Bucks have acquired the expiring contract of Toney Douglas and the 3yr/$2M of Chandler Parsons, which give them a lot of room to breathe and rebuild the team.
* Pistons have sent Khris Middleton to Fort Wayne Mad Ants. Middleton didn't get to play a single game so far for the Pistons, after disappointing performances in the summer league and pre-season. "We want Khris to get playing time, get experience, get better at his game. He still has a place in the Pistons' roster, but that's the best move for him right now", said Pistons GM Joe Dumars in a statement he made for the official Pistons website.

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[Lamrock]

Any plans to move Monroe to the 4 and start Drummond at the 5 soon?

[Leftos]

Huh? That's what I've been doing since Game 4! What was the last post you read?

[Lamrock]

I was looking at your team roster on the reserved post. Sometimes details escape me.

[Leftos]

Oh, yes, I haven't updated that, it was a "projected roster" for the start of the season. Sorry if I came off as harsh.

If you read the game recaps, you'll see Drummond is starting at Center, playing plenty of minutes, and doing a hell of a job. Way better than I expected.

EDIT: Here's the current Pistons roster as of today:

Projected Starters
PG: Brandon Knight
SG: Rodney Stuckey
SF: Tayshaun Prince
PF: Greg Monroe
C: Andre Drummond

Projected Substitutes
Corey Maggette (SF)
Slava Kravtsov (C)
Will Bynum (PG)
Jason Maxiell (PF)
Kyle Singler (SF)
Kim Engish (SG)
Jonas Jerebko (PF)

Projected Reserves
Charlie Villanueva (PF)
Austin Daye (SF)

Fort Wayne Mad Ants Send-down's
Khris Middleton (SF)

[Nick]

Hmm, what's the pistons W/L record? Who are the hoping to nab in the draft?

[Leftos]

The W/L record is always in the thread title. We're still doing scouting, but unless the season goes on a bit more and the projected record becomes clearer, I'm going to start doing potential draft pick previews.

[Leftos]

Unfortunately I decided to reinstall Windows after a hardware upgrade, which means my REditor keys are lost, and so I can't do any games right now. I promise to be back after my 4-day vacation though, with a new update most probably Monday night, if Vlad has send me new keys.